Geosciences and Analytical Chemistry
Departments
Geosciences
Environmental issues related to air and water
The IDAEA Geosciences department focuses on environmental issues related to air and water. Their atmospheric research studies the sources, transport, and evolution of inorganic compounds, particularly in identifying aerosols and gaseous pollutants, to improve air quality and guide environmental policies.
Their hydrogeological expertise covers urban aquifer management, marine intrusion, water flow modelling, and contaminant transport, essential for safe waste storage and underground energy exploitation. In surface hydrology, they explore the role of vegetation in the water cycle, erosion, and river processes, with a focus on temporary rivers and key environmental challenges.
Environmental chemistry
A closer look at contaminants
The Environmental Chemistry Department is an interdisciplinary group focused on chemical processes affecting contaminant speciation, mobility, toxicity, and bioavailability in natural systems. They assess the presence and distribution of contaminants, including priority and emerging pollutants, metals, and organometallic compounds. The department has developed novel analytical methods to study contaminants in environmental, food, and human samples, as well as chemometric tools to examine metabolomic effects on organisms. Their research includes lab toxicity tests using transgenic yeast, cell lines, zebrafish, and Daphnia magna models, along with chemical and genomic approaches to understand the biogeochemistry of anthropogenic chemicals. They work on sustainable wastewater treatments, monitoring tools, and studies on bioacumulation, investigating pollutant pathways in crops, biota, and humans. The department also explores fossil organic molecules to analyze environmental changes and their interaction with human activities, as well as atmospheric pollution in urban and industrial areas and pollutant transport to remote sites.
